Christian Pure

What Is Propitiation? The Sacrifice That Turns Away God’s Wrath

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • Propitiation is a sacrifice that turns away God’s wrath against sin, and the New Testament says Jesus is that sacrifice.
  • God himself provides it: he “sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
  • The King James Bible uses the word three times, in Romans 3:25, 1 John 2:2 and 1 John 4:10.
  • Paul’s word in Romans 3:25, hilasterion, is the Greek name for the mercy seat, the gold lid of the ark sprinkled with blood on the Day of Atonement.
  • Expiation means removing sin, propitiation means turning away God’s wrath, and Bibles differ over which word to print.
  • The tax collector’s prayer, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” uses the same Greek verb, and Jesus says he went home justified.

Propitiation is a sacrifice that turns away God’s wrath against sin and restores his favour, and the Bible says Jesus is that sacrifice. It is God himself who provides it: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). One man in the Gospels prays for exactly this. Jesus tells of a tax collector who went up to the temple and stood…

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Bibliography (Click to show)
  • The Bible, King James Version (public domain), text from BibleGateway: Exodus 25:17–22; Leviticus 16:2, 14–16, 30; Luke 18:9–14; Romans 1:18, 3:23–26, 5:8–9, 8:1; Ephesians 2:3; Hebrews 2:17, 4:16, 9:5, 10:12; 1 John 2:1–2, 4:10. Renderings of 1 John 2:2, Romans 3:25 and Hebrews 2:17 compared in the ESV, NKJV, RSV, NABRE, NIV, NRSVUE, Reina-Valera 1960 and Almeida Revista e Corrigida on BibleGateway.
  • BibleGateway keyword search, “propitiation” in the KJV: biblegateway.com
  • Bible Hub, Strong’s Greek 2433 hilaskomai, 2434 hilasmos and 2435 hilasterion, with Thayer’s Greek Lexicon: 2433, 2434, 2435
  • Roger Nicole, “Propitiation,” Christianity Today, April 1957 (citing C. H. Dodd, Journal of Theological Studies 1931; Leon Morris, Expository Times 1951 and The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 1955): christianitytoday.com/1957/04/propitiation/
  • Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 457, Libreria Editrice Vaticana: vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1J.HTM
  • Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1366–1367, Libreria Editrice Vaticana: vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P41.HTM
  • Council of Trent, Session XXII (1562), Doctrine on the Sacrifice of the Mass, chapter 2, translated by J. Waterworth: papalencyclicals.net
  • The Augsburg Confession (1530), Articles III and XX, Book of Concord: bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/
  • The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapters 8.5 and 29.2, Orthodox Presbyterian Church edition: opc.org/wcf.html

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